Space Patrol Luluco

"And we realized that a reckless, ignorant middle schooler's foolish first love was the most worthless, trashy garbage in the universe." - Blackholeian. Funny. Crazy. Unapologetic. Fresh. Savvy. Nuanced. Ridiculous.How does one even begin to describe Luluco? I can give it many definitions, and yet it seems as though none of them can truly define it. There have been, and will be many synonyms for the word crazy used to attempt to encompass Luluco's uninhibited originality- insane, unhinged, verrückt, loco, おかしい (okashii), rabiosus, gek, mad, bonkers, nutso- it could go on forever, and still never truly capture the idea. One could also call Luluco perhaps the best "lore" show ever made, transforming a disparate set of series and franchises into a single universe- a million, million worlds. (Move over, Carnival Phantasm!) For the Hiroyuki Imaishi fans, Luluco represents yet another of his unfettered, unrestricted creative explosions, bursting at the seams with referential details and a sense of wildness that he's become known for. Others still may think of Luluco as a breath of fresh air in the stale scape of the anime industry in the spring of 2016, bringing with it an "air" of lighthearted humor and silliness that also manages to be exquisitely captivating. Hiroyuki Imaishi has done it again. What he can do in 7 short minutes with a seemingly nonsensical, three beers too many plot tops what a thousand other anime cannot touch in 13, 24, or 50 full episodes. Going way over the top, reaching ever higher beyond the walls of conventionalism- Luluco takes a leap for the mythical, and lands among the fantastical. If Luluco does one thing right- it's that it has a plot. It manages to weave in a tale of first, innocent love, coming of age narrative, a metric long ton of references, cameos, homage, and Great Justice into a cohesive story amid the chaotic presentation of the show. Truly impressive is the amount of content mashed into the all-too-brief runtime of Luluco- and it must be seen to be believed. Fans of Imaishi and Trigger will find a lot to love about Space Patrol Luluco, as the show gives us fanservice in the best possible way- the original definition of fanservice. (For those who have forgotten and thinks that this is comprised entirely of vaguely underage girls exposing themselves- you're wrong. It's a practice as old as literature itself- with meta references to other works). Luluco is stuffed full of the aforementioned references and cameos from nearly Trigger's entire catalog, in addition to their penchant for making a boatload of references to other series. Trigger fans, start drooling now- because none of your favorites are excluded from this referencextravaganza, not even Sex and Violence with Machspeed. The show itself has a rather quirky art style, rather westernized, like Panty and Stocking- though it also combines (or morphs into) the styles of the many anime that it borrows from, at will. With a pulsating, pounding soundtrack from Kenichiro Suehiro and the more well known TeddyLoid (Panty and Stocking OST), the music keeps up with the frenetic pace of the show well, and accentuates the highs as well as the lows. There is also a lot of sampling of tunes used in other Trigger shows- one of which reduced me to a screeching, blubbering moron upon hearing. (I'll not reveal which). Once again, Trigger's casting is near perfection- with some old and new faces alike. They even drug Mayumi Shintani (Haruko, FLCL- Nonon, KLK) out of retirement! In closing- there's a lot to love about Luluco. (Yeah, I know I've said Luluco like 12 times in this review.) Let it be said though, that if you despise Trigger and all they've created- stay far away from this one, unless you're just a masochist- but then again, there's honestly no reason for anyone who's not a fan to watch this, as it's as I stated above- fanservice in its most pure form. Anyone who's found anything to like in a production of theirs up until this point in history will find something to like here. For those wanting a lighthearted, quick witted, frenetic tempo'd, universe sized explosion of a show- you've come to the right place. Prepare to be blown away. FOR GREAT JUSTICE!

Space Patrol Luluco is incredibly flashy and weird (in a japanese fashion), yet somehow it feels uninteresting and average, almost boring. From its cute and immediate presentation to the almost hip-hop montage during its peak moments, I've never felt so disarmed by an anime: everything on the screen stays for about five seconds before dying, moving, or screaming. All goes faster, then slower - because there's a character we need to introduce, so here's the camera pan from the bottom to the top and a shiny sound effect - before going crazy again. All of this in seven minutes per episode, which, at one point, becomesunbearable. It's understandable that Trigger may have went for a crazy approach with the series: "Luluco's a tame girl in a town. But there's aliens, so that changes everything, and it's funny!", filling the market with some other content, some other merchandise, something meaningless on which people will talk and thrive on about. The introduction is average, the music is average, the characters are... there. They do stuff. They look pretty. Something weird happens. They look even prettier when they move, and that's all. Space Patrol Luluco is the fast food equivalent of anime: get a fix of quirky content, chew onto something, but not for the quality, just for sake of it. Trigger says "style over substance", I say it's time to stop.

Space Patrol Luluco is essentially one giant fan service vehicle if you're a big fan of most of studio Trigger's works and it stands pretty well as its own thing too. The story, like most of Trigger's works, is over the top, flashy and loud but instead, unlike Kill la Kill, this insanity is compressed into short seven minute episodes and is one of the best anime of this format I've seen in a while. The story revolves around our main character, Luluco, an ordinary girl in a not-so ordinary world filled with aliens and space travel and the such. While her father accidentally freezes himself,Luluco takes him to the space patrol station in which Inferno Cops' sensei (I'm not making this up, this is canon) called 'Over Justice' makes Luluco part of the team to stop crime. As part of the space patrol, she can now turn her own body into a gun thus ruining her hopes of ever having a normal life. I'd go a little more in depth but I don't want to go into spoiler territory but surprisingly, the anime does have an over arching plot, which, because of the run time doesn't contain anything smart or thought provoking but because the anime is so much fun and the story is so over the top, it doesn't matter. You get the same kind of feeling of story telling as you do with shows such as Kill la kill, but only on a much smaller scale. There are plenty of great action sequences with great character designs and action, it's easy to be entertained. Its art style reminds me a lot of the series 'Panty and stocking with Garterbelt' since at times it resembles more so a western cartoon than anime. The sound is great and the world feels vibrant, loud and colourful. The characters are all fun, stupid and great to watch with Midori being the best girl and no shortage of funny moments between the characters. The anime also features a whole bunch of cross overs between different shows that Trigger has made, and if, like me, you like these shows then this is a massive treat. Overall, this show is stupid, fun and over the top. It has nothing in the way of deep symbolism or ground breaking story telling, but its very entertaining and one I would recommend watching. (video version coming soon!)

Oh man, Trigger has done it again. What I loved best about space patrol Luluco is that at the moment Trigger seems like they have found what direction they want to go in. Magical girls, transformations, supernatural and comedy. Right now it is as if Trigger is sticking with their roots for this title. I love how they are still able to do whatever they want with their shows. They like being innovative with their titles, I respect that. The story is really simple but is purposely made crazy because you know, trigger... gainax.. Uchuu Patrol Luluco follows the life of Luluco, a.. you know what, youcan actually get this information from the reading the description of the show.. anywho, I liked the story. I thought it was pretty interesting in all honesty. Before I get into it I'd like to say that I don't think Luluco is the best thing to come out of Trigger however it definitely had the potential to be something greater. Because the show was about 6-7 minutes 6 minutes of actual story lots of the plot for episodes and other related details are rush to the point where it sort of felt displeasing. I did find the whole "Seasons" thing unique. I think it was actually a smart idea to have them make like 3 episodes, end of season 1, 3 episodes end of season 2 etc because Luluco's not getting a "Real" second season simply because the show only has Thirteen episodes. Maybe net animations, hell maybe even an OVA here or there however with the presentation of the story and the rush, I don't see this series a long term thing. Art was choppy & sloppy, yet creative. Character designs were unique, however they lacked a certain charm to them. This isn't a bad thing however simply because the characters seemed as if they were designed to fit their characters personalities. Luluco for example is an ordinary girl, so she's a little plain in terms of designs however, she's given a cute little perks in her personality to make up for what she lacks in design or appeal. With animation however, I simply was not too impressed with the work Triggs put into the show. Pipo Password was perhaps the best song composed for the entire soundtrack. It was beautiful, and really fit the theme for the series. Bonjour Suzuki's vocals, her voice was so soft and soothing, and really complemented the beat produced by Teddyloid, who has done lots of work on shows for NAX before.. like P&S with G-Belt. The voice actors were pretty good delivering both serious and non-serious lines. The actors did an amazing job with adding speed & energy with lines that required it. I beleieve that is a reqiurement when auditions for a role for characters in a Studio Trigger title... but then again I probably just made that up.. do I suck or what? :) Characters are as bizarre, odd, and insane.. Like any other trigger or Gainax title. They had energy, and I like that. Character developments were pretty strange, espeically when it came to Gun Morphing however it was still funny too watch. If there was any real reason to watch this series I'd say it's to see what becomes of the characters later in the series. Overall I was impressed with what the team came up with because again, I do feel like Trigger has the talent to make really interesting shows with more than unique and bizarre stories and characters. Following the life of the adorable Luluco as she tries to save her Papa and find true love was certainly something I did enjoy re-watching. I gave the show a 7/10 simply because it wasn't too good nor was it awful. It's like right in the middle.